1. Technical Field
The present invention relates generally to an improved data processing system and in particular to a method and apparatus for processing data. Still more particularly, the present invention relates a method, apparatus, and computer useable code for monitoring silent installation of a subordinate program.
2. Description of Related Art
Installation of a desired primary target program on one or more data processing systems may require installation of a number of additional subordinate, including prerequisite, programs. The subordinate programs may not be required, though the subordinate programs may be useful to operation of the desired primary target program. Installation of each program may require input and installation of each program may need to be performed in a particular order. Consequently, the installation of a desired primary target program may be quite complex.
A known method for managing the complexity of installing multiple programs is to perform a silent installation. An installation is referred to as a silent installation when all of the tasks associated with the installation are automated and the tasks are hidden from the user.
Installation of many programs, which may be quite large, can take significant time. Because the installation is silent, the user is not informed about the progress of the installation until installation of all programs is complete. If an error occurs during installation and the installation or the computer hangs (ceases responding), then the user will not know about the error until too much time has passed, whereupon the user has wasted time and resources before dealing with the problem. On the other hand, because the installation takes a long time, the user may mistakenly believe that the installation has hung even when the installation is still in progress. Thus, the user may mistakenly restart the installation process and, again, waste valuable time and resources.
To address this problem, a silent install may be modified somewhat so that overall progress of installation of the primary target program is displayed. For example, a progress bar or an activity report may be displayed to the user. However, the progress bar or activity report does not show or report any activity during the installation of the subordinate programs. A user may again believe that the installation of the primary target program has hung, even though a subordinate program is still being installed. Thus, it would be advantageous to have an improved method, apparatus, and computer useable code for monitoring progress of silently installed subordinate programs during installation of a primary target program.